Check out this amazing collection of vintage costumed hand-colored nudes on flickr:Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Casino De Paris Nudes
Check out this amazing collection of vintage costumed hand-colored nudes on flickr:
Monday, April 02, 2007
Giovanni Bellini's Nude
Naked Young Woman in Front of Mirror 1515
Giovanni Bellini (1430- 1516)painted his first female nude when he was about 85 years old!
It was only a year before he died. I really like this painting.
"He is considered to have revolutionized Venetian painting, moving it towards a more sensuous and colouristic style. Through the use of clear, slow-drying oil paints, Giovanni created deep, rich tints and detailed shadings. His sumptuous coloring and fluent, atmospheric landscapes had a great effect on the Venetian painting school, especially on his pupils Giorgione and Titian."
read more at Wikipedia
A Corset Made of Bosch
sent me a link to a stunning corset her friend
made out of printed Bosch fabric. Cool! Check it out:
Sunday, April 01, 2007
The Hip Fashions of H. Bosch
Details from the "Garden of Earthly Delights" by Hieronymus Bosch (Prado, Madrid)
Cherries and dice make good hats. Especially when you are wearing nothing else. Just ask Hieronymus Bosch. Oh, you can't...he's dead. Well, nevermind. He was ahead of his time obviously. These fashions he created are quite contemporary, don't you think?
"The extraordinary painter Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450-1516) stands apart from the prevailing Flemish traditions in painting. His style was unique, strikingly free, and his symbolism, unforgettably vivid, remains unparalleled to this day."
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Practicing One's Craft
"Curtains" Painting copyright Amy Crehore
Seth Godin posted this on his blog the other day:
Art that's not for sale
"Jordan Tierney and her colleagues have been working for months on the Periodic Tableaux, a one-of-a-kind art book that's not for sale.
Why invest the hours and the sweat and the talent in a piece of art you can't (and won't) sell?
Two reasons. The best reason is that when you practice your craft for yourself, not for the market, it drives you in new and important ways. And the other reason is that people are going to talk about it. Ideas that spread, win."
Art that's not for sale
"Jordan Tierney and her colleagues have been working for months on the Periodic Tableaux, a one-of-a-kind art book that's not for sale.
Why invest the hours and the sweat and the talent in a piece of art you can't (and won't) sell?
Two reasons. The best reason is that when you practice your craft for yourself, not for the market, it drives you in new and important ways. And the other reason is that people are going to talk about it. Ideas that spread, win."
I totally agree about practicing your craft for yourself first. That is what I have done all of my life and certain people who think "money first" tend to think I am crazy. I have actually had people say, "Why even do it, if you aren't selling it?" They just don't understand the creative process and the goals of an artist. I could have been strictly a cartoonist-type illustrator (I did plenty of it) when I was younger for money, but I wanted to learn how to paint in a more representational way. I wanted to come up with my own unique way of painting. Not realism, but imaginative painting that transports you to a place that is "realer than real". I needed the challenge of painting with oils. I had a vision. It was a long-term goal. I struggled for years. Over humps and into valleys. I devoured art history books. Sometimes a painting would take me months with a hundred paintings underneath. I persevered. It was all about putting love and my own experiences into the work and letting my humor and ideas flow freely without fear. And painting things over and over and over until they "felt" right. I think it was worth it - to get to the place I am now.
(Thanks to Marshall at artnewyorkcity.com for the link)
(above image from my "Little Pierrot" series which started as an experiment and has evolved into 3 different series of works.)
Monkeys Galore
Monkey Wallpaper
Red-Ruffed Lemur 1894 Chromolithograph
Spider Monkey 1894 Chromolithograph
Monkey -1894 ChromolithographMy friend sent me this great sample of monkey wallpaper and I found these antique prints here: Collectors Prints
I have been locked away for the last 5 or 6 weeks working on a new painting in my "monkey love" series. It's more ambitious than most and it is taking me forever to finish. If I owe emails to anyone, I hope they will understand that I must block out all distractions temporarily.
I start from scratch with my paintings and don't use any reference materials except perhaps my own previous works (to stay consistent). My first painting ("Banana Eater") in the "monkey love" series was researched, however. It was loosely based on the people, animals and plants of French Guiana or Devil's Island. (I needed a background setting- like a novelist would have in the opening paragraphs of a book.) That is where my squirrel monkey came from. Some people think my work is Polynesian or Hawaiian-based, and I have to admit that it has evolved now into a kind of cross-over art, but it wasn't my intention. It is all intuitive. The drawing comes first (from my imagination) and then I transfer it to canvas. I do enjoy looking at all kinds of vintage art, though, and over the years, it has become a part of me- my roots. One thing I don't do is look at contemporary art too closely. One must stay pure and create one's own unique little modern symbols and icons without straying into anyone else's territory. That's my philosophy, although I know that some current day artists tend to mimic whatever is "in" at the moment (nevermind copyrights). To me, that is not real art and defeats the whole purpose of creating something entirely new!
Thursday, March 29, 2007
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